


the lightning all around me

by glitteratiglue



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Ficlet, Gen, Lightsabers, POV Multiple
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-21
Updated: 2016-02-21
Packaged: 2018-05-22 09:49:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6074683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glitteratiglue/pseuds/glitteratiglue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kylo Ren and Rey's thoughts after the lightsaber battle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the lightning all around me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



> A belated Christmas gift for **wineandroses**. Sorry it took me so long to get around to this.
> 
> Quick flash ficlet.

**i.**

Ren never saw the girl leave, but he felt it — the surge of anger like a blade through the Force, her determination as she escaped him.

As he lay there, numbness spreading throughout his body, it came back to him in flashes: red heat, sharp steel and the glow of a lightsaber blade.

The light overhead was dimming; Starkiller Base must be in ruins by now.

Snoke would be angry that he had not convinced the girl to let them train her. It was a shame, really. He’d felt the energy of the Force humming through her veins, evidence of a great talent she’d spent a lifetime trying to bury.

The way she’d looked at him at the edge of the chasm, disgust and contempt in her eyes — he’d seen that in Solo’s eyes as he fell.

Even conquering his deepest weakness had not been enough. He had killed his father—no, Solo— and it had not quelled the doubts in his heart.

After all of it, he had proven himself weak, defeated by a girl with a weapon she didn’t yet fully understand. She had called upon the Light, and it had answered her. Saved her.

It had been Ren’s final test, and he had failed it.

He required more instruction; that much was clear. He would go to Snoke, face the consequences, and learn once and for all how to destroy the Light in him. He would bury it, all of it, just as the girl had buried her Force sensitivity for all those years on that husk of a desert planet.

Beneath him, the earth rumbled.

Hux would come for him soon, he was sure of it. Or else, death. Either would be a welcome escape.

Ren closed his eyes. He was ready.

***

**ii.**

The ground shook under her feet as she ran, heels flashing against the icy ground that was stained with tracks of red.

She hoped Ren was gone; there hadn’t been time to make sure.

Finn. _Finn._

Somewhere inside her, Rey knew he was still alive. She had to get back to him, her friend who had already lost so much. He couldn’t lose her as well.

And Chewie—

Knowing there were people out there who still needed her, Rey ran faster. Through the pain of her injuries, the burning in her lungs and the cramp in her muscles, she ran.

She still couldn’t explain what had come over her, how she’d managed to fight off a Sith lord with an ancient weapon she hardly knew anything about.

At first, it was nothing but instinct that made her counter and block, as if the lightsaber were the staff she’d used back on Jakku. And then she’d lost her focus. She’d thought of Han, falling down, down, down. Dead at his own son’s hand.

The sharpness of the loss had caught her off guard, allowing the injured Ren to gain an advantage over her and force her to the cliff edge.

But she had refused to let it be her end. Not now, after all the senseless destruction and death she’d witnessed. Her spine bowing, muscles screaming from the effort of resisting Ren, she had called on all the rage inside her, willed it to give her the strength to defeat him.

Instead, a curious sensation had welled up beneath Rey’s skin: warmth and belonging, all the goodness that existed in the light places of the world. Though she knew nothing of the Force, she'd  _felt_ it.

It was then she’d understood, for the first time, what the Light and the Dark could really be. She had the Dark inside her, and it was powerful. But she did not have to be its slave.

Rey wanted to pity the man who’d once been Ben Solo, but she had no time. He would die, and the universe would right itself.

She kept moving, the tears freezing on her cheeks as she made for the _Falcon._

**Author's Note:**

> Long introspection isn't my usual style, so it was a fun challenge to write this.
> 
> Title by Linkin Park, because I think I'm hilarious.


End file.
